“Of course, dear,” his mom said, hugging Sam. “I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I let you go into that. I’ll be worried enough about Matt, but it’s our family and our problem and it has to be done.”
Matt glanced sidelong at the stairs where the refugee had disappeared. “Also I’d really appreciate it if you could help make our guest feel welcome.”
After a few stormy seconds of silence Sam finally relented. “Fine, but be careful.” She stepped closer and punched his arm. “You’re my traveling buddy, remember?”
Although her tone was flippant her expression hinted at something far more serious. Or at least he liked to believe it did. Matt felt his face flushing and suddenly felt really awkward. “I will,” he promised. “And you be careful too. Things might get unfriendly around here if the refugees decide they want to enter town after all.”
Before she could answer a creak on the stairs turned them both around to see Mandy descending wearing some of Sam’s borrowed clothes, which looked too small for her. The blond woman seemed much more revived after washing up, even if it was just with a clean cloth and soap in cold water, although the skin on her face, arms, and legs was terribly sunburned. At the sight of her Sam immediately hurried to get her a cup of water, which she gratefully accepted and gulped down in several long swallows.
“My parents are happy to let you stay until me and Trev get back,” Matt offered the refugee. “You can use my room for now.”
To his surprise Sam hurriedly spoke up. “I think it would be better if I moved into your room so she can have the guest room. She’ll be more comfortable there.”
Matt wasn’t sure how to interpret that. He was also a bit embarrassed at the thought of her being in his room, although of course she’d seen it before. It wasn’t exactly an embarrassing relic from his days as a kid, but he did have a lot of paraphernalia from his time on the high school basketball team hanging on the walls, as well as a few posters of his favorite players and one or two bands. And he’d also collected a lot of cheap used CDs growing up as MP3 players took over in popularity.
What if she found time to search through them and didn’t like his taste in music? Of course, considering the fact that the power was probably out for good he doubted she’d get a chance to hear any of it.
His mom gave the two of them an amused look. “That’s very generous.” She went over and put an arm around Mandy’s shoulders, careful of the sunburn. “Come on, dear, let’s get you settled in.”
Matt glanced awkwardly at Sam. “I need to get packed up.”
To his relief she beamed at him, seemingly back to her old self now that things had been settled. “I’ll help.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
Trev gave his cousin an irritated look as he continued emptying the pockets on his backpack. “It’s his family, man, and the guy’s so clueless he walked right into a riot. I have to help him.”
“You’re not much better off than him,” Lewis insisted, moving around to get in front of him. “This is crazy. We could at least try to get my fuel working in a car, or maybe try to find a vehicle that can run on it.”
“You’ve been trying that for days,” Trev argued. “All you’ve managed to do is gum up your truck’s fuel injector, and Mr. Tillman’s ATV didn’t even splutter when we tried it in there.”
“So find a way to trade some gas.” His cousin grabbed his arm as he reached for some clean clothes. “You do not want to walk into the mess up there. Besides, how will you get them down?”
Trev shook his head. “There’s no gas left in town. Running the fridges took a lot, and so did everything the town used the first week. What little remains is being used to charge batteries for radios and flashlights.”
Lewis sighed. “Think about this carefully. Here you have a home, a community, and everything you need to survive. If you leave here you become just another refugee, and refugees are the first to die when the Schumer hits the fan. You do not want to become one.”
“We’ll have enough food to get there and back easy,” Trev promised. “And I’ll make sure to avoid other people. We’ll be in and out without talking to anyone.” He carefully set aside his Mini-14, ammo, and all the gear for it to stay behind. Taking two guns plus ammo for both of them was excessive, and anyway he didn’t want to be shot on sight for openly carrying a tactical rifle. It may turn out to be a bad decision, but he’d prefer to trust his .45 in its underarm holster. And over long distances losing the weight would make a huge difference.
His cousin ran his hand over the rifle’s stock. “Maybe I should go with you if you really plan to go.”
“You’ve got to watch the shelter,” Trev argued. “Besides, I can’t ask you to do that. Especially not after you just got finished telling me what an idiot I am for going.”
“He’s my friend too.” Lewis sighed again. “Although we do need to make sure you have a place to come home to and you’re right that I don’t really want to go. This is a bad idea, Trev.”
“I know.” Trev straightened and gave his cousin a solemn look. “Matt needs me and I said I’d do it.”
There was a long, uncomfortable pause as they stood staring at each other. “I’d better get you some protein powder to take with you, then.” His cousin turned and started for the back of the shelter. “And some flashlights.”
By the time Matt came around they had Trev’s pack loaded. It felt full with the sleeping bag, pad, and tent, but when he put it on it was half the weight of when he’d first brought it down. Courtesy of taking just the bare essentials. Lewis checked their friend’s pack and made him leave behind a few things, then gifted him with some protein powder as well.
After a few brief goodbyes Trev and his friend were on the dirt road leading away from the shelter, headed for Highway 6. At first Trev argued that they should head north and a bit east cross-country until they reached Helper, at which point the terrain got rough enough that it was better to just follow Highway 6 the rest of the way to Spanish Fork even if there was more risk of running into refugees and any trouble they might cause. He even pulled out the small map of Utah Lewis had given him so he could trace the route with his finger.
Matt immediately shook his head at the suggestion, insisting that he had to stay along Highway 6 and then I-15 the entire way because he wanted to run into refugees, if not to ask them about news up north then at least to check each group for his family.
Trev vehemently disagreed with the idea of walking right on the highway in sight of everyone, and after some effort managed to convince his friend that it would be better if they stayed barely within sight of the road with binoculars. That was a reasonable compromise, where they’d be close enough that Matt could check the faces of the refugees they passed looking for his sister and her family, but far enough away to avoid notice. Which meant they’d start by circling north around the new refugee camp springing up outside the town’s borders beyond Roadblock 1, then take that road all the way to the highway and go from there.
Once they’d agreed on their course Matt immediately sped up to a quick trot, almost a run. Trev didn’t even try to keep up, instead calling after his friend. “Whoa, slow down! Don’t tire yourself out.”
Matt did slow, but only to look back at him impatiently. “I want to find April’s family as quickly as possible. I don’t care if I get a little tired.”
Trev sighed. “It’s over a hundred miles to Midvale. You going to jog the entire way with a pack on your back? Believe me, I just finished a 50 mile trek and I learned a few hard lessons.”